Abahani dedicated their sixth Bangladesh Premier League title to former coach Amalesh Sen, who died of cardiac arrest in October last year at the club premises soon after completing a training session.

“We are missing Amalesh dada at the moment,” Abahani's team manager Satyajit Das Rupu said. “He would have been really happy to see Abahani win the trophy. The boys played the whole league for him and we are dedicating the trophy to him.”

Abahani, who finished the first leg at third position with 24 points from 11 matches, had a miserable beginning to the second leg having lost the first match against newcomers Saif SC. But since then they have not looked back, winning nine matches on the trot to confirm the title with a game in hand.       

“After the defeat against Saif SC, all the players were instructed to take more responsibility. They were also told that they would have a good chance to win the title if they could win the next eight matches and they did it successfully before taking on Sheikh Jamal today [Friday],” said Rupu adding that the players were again told before the match that the trophy was for them to grab or throw away.

“The boys once again proved that Abahani are the best in the country even though we had some problems in the starting eleven due to the suspension of Wali Faisal, Rubel Mia and illness of Samad Yussif. However, other players took the responsibility and carried the game plan accordingly,” said Rupu, who worked from behind the scenes in the last seven matches after head coach Drago Mamic left the club in November.

Defender Nasir Chowdhury was ecstatic to win his third professional league title, having joined the club this season from Chittagong Abahani and scoring seven goals despite playing as a defender.

“I am really happy to have played a crucial role in the team in winning the title,” said Nasir, who turned into a centre-back in 2010 after playing as a striker for Bangladesh Army.

“As I am now playing as a defender, I know the loopholes of the defence and I used my experience to score goals,” explained Nasir, who scored yesterday's opening goal.

Sunday Chizoba, who signed during the mid-term transfer window, played a crucial role too by scoring nine goals in 10 matches, including the second goal yesterday.

“It's a feel-good factor for me to win successive league trophies for Abahani but I want to thank God who helped me stay injury-free and showed me the way of scoring,” said Sunday, who was also the key man behind Abahani's league title last season.